Can a Public University Create Faith-Based Dorms?

Submitted by Scott Jaschik on August 5, 2013 - 3:00am

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding that Troy University, a public institution in Alabama, abandon plans to open a dormitory restricted to those who participate in community activities with churches or faith-based groups. The foundation, citing the First Amendment's separation of church and state, questions how a public university could restrict access to people based on having a faith. Further, the foundation noted in a letter to the university[1] that in some local press reports,[2] Troy officials have been quoted as saying that Christian students would have preference for the spots, saying that non-Christians could move in "if there was space available." (Subsequently, a university spokesman disavowed that policy.) The university has not responded to the letter from the foundation.